Clan Building System: I'm not the Protagonist?!-Chapter 54: Nascent Fight. [2]

Fang Yuan didn’t respond. Outwardly, his expression remained unreadable.

Inwardly, he sneered.

Shameful? As if you both didn’t just try to cripple me with that little sneak attack. Hypocrite.

But he kept the thought to himself. He said nothing.

He was going to let the old man dance to his own drama.

Gu Jian, at least, seemed to take the old man’s comment to heart.

With a quiet sigh, he stepped back, hands folded behind him as he retreated to the edge of the bridge, moving in together with the crowd.

Signaling that the fight, at least for now would be one-on-one.

Fang Yuan’s gaze dropped lazily to Gu Lanyue.

He offered a faint, mocking smile.

"Old man," he said, tone mild but laced with disdain, "Are you sure you can handle me alone? I don’t mind facing the two of you alone. I don’t want to accidentally hurt a ’senior’ after all."

Gasps echoed among the crowd.

The words were arrogant and disrespectful.

But more than that, they sounded so confident to their ears.

Fang Yuan raised his hand.

With a subtle flick of his fingers, his sword shot into the air, spinning once before coming to a perfect halt, hovering at his side, trembling with restrained power.

Then, without even drawing it, he vanished from the sky with the sword in hand.

In a blur of motion he swooped in like a flash of lightning, striking directly at Gu Lanyue.

Gu Lanyue reacted to it fast.

His left hand snapped out and caught the sword by the tip mid-air, stopping it just as Fang Yuan reached him.

At the same moment, his right arm swept forward, intercepting Fang Yuan’s strike with the side of his palm.

Clang!

Spirit force exploded between them, rippling the air and cracking the stone tiles beneath the bridge.

Fang Yuan’s foot barely touched the ground before he twisted, using the momentum to flip backward into the air again, grinning as his sword returned to his hand with a sharp whirl of wind.

Gu Lanyue’s eyes narrowed.

That wasn’t the movement of someone at early-stage Nascent Soul. No, it reminded him more of his spars with his son. freēnovelkiss.com

Fang Yuan darted forward again, this time with his sword glowing, its blade humming with pale golden radiance that shimmered like a blade forged from sunlight itself.

"Tyrant Light Sword—First Strike: Divine Line."

He slashed.

A razor-thin beam of light erupted from the blade, a luminous line that cut through the air like divine judgment itself, aimed squarely at Gu Lanyue.

The light strike roared forward, a blinding lance of energy tearing through the air with impossible speed.

Gu Lanyue’s eyes narrowed to slits.

In a breath, he brought his hands together before him, palms meeting in a sharp clap as spiritual energy surged between them.

Threads of qi coiled along his arms, weaving into a defensive lattice as he braced to intercept the blow.

He stood firm, arms locked in position like a mountain daring the heavens to strike it down.

And the heavens did.

BOOM!

The beam crashed into him.

The crowd gasped as Gu Lanyue was sent skidding backward, his boots grinding across stone, sparks flaring beneath his heels.

Cracks spread along the bridge beneath his feet.

Gu lanyue eyes widened slightly.

I couldn’t blocked it?

I lost in a contest of raw strength?

"This brat..." he muttered, gritting his teeth. "I’ve underestimated him deeply."

His arms trembled slightly, and his spiritual aura flickered out of rhythm for a split second.

His gaze grew sharper now, every ounce of mockery vanished from his face.

Now wary, Gu Lanyue’s pupils narrowed. He threw his right palm forward and shouted,

"Poison Silk!"

From sleeves to fingertips, hundreds of gossamer threads surged into the air, nearly invisible, laced with venomous qi, and gone in a blink.

A trap laid in silence.

They scattered in all directions and disappeared from sight, forming a web of spiritual traps in the sky.

To the untrained eye, they had disappeared.

But Fang Yuan felt it, his divine sense touched the net, each thread vibrating faintly with a corrosive, soul-piercing aura.

Invisible tripwires.

A web waiting to ensnare the reckless.

From where he hovered above the bridge, Fang Yuan inhaled, golden light pouring from his blade like an aura of divine flame.

"Tyrant Light Sword—Second Strike: Star Form."

He raised the blade overhead and slashed downward.

A new formation burst from his blade.

This time, it wasn’t a single line, but five streaks of radiant qi, spiraling and condensing into a star-shaped construct, burning bright, humming with suppressed fury.

The very air warped around it.

The watching crowd stared wide-eyed.

None had ever seen a Nascent Soul battle this close before.

Even from afar, the light scorched their vision. The crowd shielded their eyes with trembling hands.

They could feel the weight of that strike in their chests.

None dared move except Gu Jian, who silently raised a barrier to protect the crowd.

His brows furrowed as he watched closely.

This wasn’t just a talented junior.

No...

This was a real threat.

Up above, Gu Lanyue narrowed his eyes at the incoming star and let out a cold chuckle.

"Foolish junior."

He stood firm, not even attempting to dodge.

The star slammed into him like a falling celestial body—

CRASH!

Light exploded in all directions, and the air twisted with force.

The bridge trembled under the sheer energy released.

As the light died down, Gu Lanyue stood tall, part of his robe scorched, his skin glowing faintly with defensive qi but mostly unharmed.

The star construct had shattered but not without a result.

A jagged edge of light had pierced through his defense.

Gu Lanyue’s eyes widened in surprise when he saw his defenses had been cracked.

"—?!"

And then he looked again at Fang Yuan.

High above, Fang Yuan hovered in midair, panting.

Blood ran from the corner of his mouth, soaking into his robes. The color drained from his cheeks.

He was bleeding, profusely.

"What...?" Gu Jian whispered from below, brows furrowed in confusion.

Fang Yuan let out a low chuckle, wiping the blood from his mouth.

"Heh.... Damage reflection?" he muttered, now understanding. "So that’s your trick."

He coughed violently, blood staining his robes.

His lips curved upward, blood glistening on his teeth.

"That... was new."

Below, the crowd stirred.

What kind of technique was that?

What kind of cultivator was Fang Yuan, to still smile after that?

Even battered, he looked like a sovereign dragon above the battlefield, drenched in blood, but defiant.

For the first time, Gu Lanyue’s smirk faltered, thinning into a tight, unreadable line.

He hadn’t expected the Second Strike of Tyrant Light to pierce his Poison Silk Defense, a technique known to rebound force at twice its strength.

Nor had he expected the same junior, bloodied but still smiling to remain standing after enduring double the power of his own attack.

His Poison Silk, famed for its resilience, had withstood the full-force blow of a mid-stage Nascent Soul cultivator without faltering in the past.

And yet, here it was... cracked.

And there he was, Fang Yuan hovering in the air, lips stained red, robe fluttering in the starlight, eyes gleaming with cold defiance.

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